Introduction

n!

Over the past two decades

the use of electric arc furnaces
(EAFs) for the production of
steel has grown dramatically
in the UnitedStates. In 1975
EAFs accounted for 20% of the
steel produced; by 1996 the
figure had risento 39% and
by the year 2000 (or shortly
thereafter) could approach
L Liquid Bath
50%. There aretwo major
reasons for thistrend-lower
Molten Metal Formation
Arc Ignition Period
Period
(Start of Power Supply)
capital cost for an EAF steelmaking shop and significantly
Tapping Spout
less energyrequired to
produce steel by theEAF
Hot Swt
versus the blastfurnace/basic
oxygen furnace method of
the integratedsteelmaker.
EAFs range in capacity from
a few tons to
as many as 400
tons, and a steelmaking shop
can havefrom one to five
furnaces. In brief, EAFs can be
either ac or dc powered and
!
Long Arc
Short Arc
! Bath
they melt steel by applying
current to a steel scrap charge
Meltdown-Heating Peiiod
Meltdown Period
Main Melting Period
by means of graphiteelectrodes. It requires about360
to 400 k w h of electricityto melt
Figure 1. SteelMelting Cycle.
a ton of steel; consequently,
intensity arc during meltdown.
these furnaces use a
tremendous
Typical Steelmaking Cycle
Subsequently, the arc is lengthened
quantity ofpower. Transformer
by increasing the voltage
t o maxiloads mayreach 150 MVA.
Figure 1 shows a typical heat
mum power. Most modernfurnaces
The features of EAFs are
cycle, commonly referred t o as the
are equipped with water-cooled
described in a prior CMP
tap-to-tap cycle, for theEAF. The
panels in the upper half of
the
TechCommentarytitled
cycle starts with the charging
sidewall, rather than refractories,
Introduction to Electric Arc
of the furnace
with steel scrap. After
which allow for longer
arcs and
Furnace Steelmaking (TC-107713).
the furnace is charged and the
roof
higher energyinput to the
furnace.
The purposeof thisTechCommenraw
is in place, the operator lowers the
In the final
stage, when there isa
(TC-107714) is to give utilitiesa
electrode or electrodes, eachof
nearly complete metal pool, the
arc
more comprehensive understandwhich has its own regulator and
is shortenedto reduce radiation
ing of the electrical operations
mechanical drive. Current is initiatheat lossesand t o avoid refractory
and energyusage, and to review
ed and the
electrodes bore through
damage andhot spots. After rneltsome ofthe innovations that
are
the scrap to forma pool of liquid
down, oxygen is injected
to oxidize
metal. The scraphelps to protect
making theEAF a very energythe carbonin the steel or the
the furnace lining fromthe highefficient steel melter.
charged carbon. In some opera-

I-l!

w
Chemical

Examples
Ttim
1OOO-

900800

Nucor Hidaan

chaparral

Utm-High

Northstar/BHP

700

600

CO-Steel Raritan

Inland
Lukens

High

ooo-

6045%

400

300

Ameri-Steel
Caparo Steel

Medium

200
100

Low

~~

~~

Figure 2. EAF Power Classifications.

tions, oxygen injectionis started
as soon as a liquid pool of
metal
is formed. The decarburization
process is an importantsource
of energy. In addition, the carbon
monoxide thatevolves helpsto
flush nitrogenand hydrogen out
of the metal. It also foams the slag,
which helps to minimize heat loss
and shields the arc-thereby reducing damage to refractories.

Energy Needs
The International Ironand Steel
Institute classifies EAFs based on
the power supplied
per ton of furnace capacity. Thepower classification ranges andsome representative furnace installations are shown
in Figure 2. Most modernEAFs
found insteelmaking shopsare at
least 500 kVA per ton and the trend
is toward ultra-high-power
furnaces
in therange of 900 to 1000 kVA per
ton offurnace capacity.
A typical energy balance
(Sankey diagram) fora modern EAF
is shown inFigure 3. Depending
upon the meltshop
operation, about
60 to 65% of the total
energy iselectric, the remainder being chemical
energy arisingfrom the oxidation of
elements such as carbon, iron, and
silicon andthe burning of natural
gas with oxy-fuelburners. About
53% of the total energy
leaves the
furnace in the liquidsteel, while the
remainder is lost to the slag, waste
gas,and cooling.
Just a decade ago tap-to-tap
times haddecreased from over 2
I

TechCommentarv

Figure:3. Energy Patternsin an Electric Arc Furnace.

hours to 70-80 minutes for the effiOxygen Usage

cient melt shops. Continuing
advancements in EAF technology
Much ofthe EAF productivity
now make it possible to melta heat
gain achieved in the past decade
of steel in less than one hour with
is related to increased oxygen use.
electric energy consumption in
With the increased availability of
the range of 360 to 400 kWhhon.
lower cost oxygen dueto newair
EAF operations utilizing scrap
separation technologies, oxygen
preheating such as the CONSTEELQ
use in the EAF has grown. Oxygen
Process andthe Fuchs Shaft furusage has increasedfrom about
nace can achieve evenlower cycle
300 scfhon (8.8Nm3honne)in 1985
times. Most new EAF shops now
aim for tap-to-tap times of betweento as much as 1300 scfhon (37.4
Nm3honne),saving 50 to 100 k w h
50-60 minutes. These times are
of electric energy per ton ofsteel
rapidly approaching those
for basic
produced and reducing tap-to-tap
oxygen furnace operations used in
times by3 to 6 minutes. The relaintegrated steel mills.
tionship betweenelectric energy
and oxygen consumption for the
Charge Materials
EAF is shown in Figure 4. It is now
common for between
30 to 40%
In the past, EAF shops essenof
the
total
energy
input
to the EAF
tially charged100% scrap to the
to come from oxy-fuelburners and
furnace. Although mostEAF steeloxygen lancing.
makers producing longproducts,
Oxy-fuel burners are currently
such as rebar and merchant bar,
standard equipment onEAFs. The
continue to use all scrap, some
first use of burnerswas for melting
EAF shops today are supplementing thecharge with other materials the scrap at the slag door wherearc
for producing higher quality prod- heating was fairly inefficient. In
ultra-high-power (UHP) furnaces,it
ucts. This is the case for some
is common forcold spots to exist
producers of high-qualitybars and
in the areas lying between the
highly formablesheet products
electrodes on the periphery of the
for automobiles. These charge
furnace bottom. Burnersare often
materials include direct reduced
installed to help meltscrap in these
iron, iron carbide, and pig iron.
cold spots. This results in more
For more informationon scrap
uniform meltingand decreasesthe
quality and direct reduced iron see
time requiredto reach a flat bath.
CMP Report 95-1. The trend toward
Also, burners are beneficial for heatthe use of direct-reduced materials
ing the cold spot around the tap
will continue to grow
as more
hole of eccentric bottom tapping
high-quality scrap containing low
furnaces. Typically burners are
levels of residuals or undesirable
installed in the side wall and roof of
elements becomes scarce.
2

bath declines as more

heat is radiated from
the arc to the sidewalls. By covering the
arc in a layer of slag
the arc is shielded and
more energy is transferred to the bath.
Oxygen injected with
granular coalor carbon produces carbon
monoxide (CO) which
foams theslag. In
some cases, only carbon isinjected andit
reacts with the iron
oxide in the slag to
350
produce CO. This is
6,
called afoamy slag
5
practice and is now
0
600
1200
commonly used by
EAF operators. When
Oxygen Consumption
foamed, the slag cover
(Standard cubic feetper ton)
normally increases
from 4 inches (0.1
-igure 4. Eleptrical Energy vs. Oxygen Consumption. meter) to 12 inches
(0.3 meter) thick.
Claims for thermal efficiency
range
the furnace as well as in the slag
door. Productivity increases of5 to
from 60 to 90% with slag foaming
20% have been reported from the
compared to 40% without foamy
use of burners.
slag. If a deepfoamy slag is
Oxygen lancing has also
achieved, it is possibleto increase
become anintegral partof EAF
the arc voltage considerably. This
melting operationsover the past
allows a greater rateof power input.
decade. Modern furnaces use
Slag foaming is usually carried out
oxygen lances to cut scrap, decaronce aflat bath isachieved.
burize (refine) thebath, and foam
However, with hotheel operations
the slag. Energy savingsdue to
(residual liquid steel in the furnace
oxygen lancingarise from both
bottom) it is possibleto start foamexothermic reactions (oxidation of
ing muchsooner.
carbon and iron) and due
to the
stirring of the bath which
leads to
Post Combustion
temperature and composition
homogeneity ofthe bath. Oxygen
CO gas is producedin large
lances can beof two forms, water
quantities in the EAF both from
cooled andconsumable. Wateroxygen lancing andslag foaming.
cooled lances are generally usedfor
If the CO is notcombusted in the
decarburizing; however, in some
furnace freeboard thenit must be
cases they are usedfor scrap cutting. The first consumable lances
were operated manually through
the slag door. Today, remotecontrolled lance manipulators are
available to optimize the injection
process. Theserobotic units, Figure
5, can be usedwith multiple, individually controlled,consumable
lances for scrap burning and decarburizing, as well as for injecting
oxygen, carbon, and lime.

burned in the fourth holeevacuation system conveying the off-gases

from the furnace to the baghouse.
The heat ofcombustion of CO to
C 0 2 is three times
greater than the
heat of combustion of
C to CO.
Thus, this represents avery large
potential energy sourcefor theEAF.
If theCO is burnedin the EAF it is
possible to recover the heat while
reducing the heatload on the off-gas
system. This is called post combustion. Results of studieshave shown
that bypracticing post combustion,
i.e., injecting oxygeninto theEAF to
burn theCO to COz, 35 to 60 percent
of the heat in the off-gas can be
recovered. EAF operators are now
moving toward adopting this
practice and typicalelectric energy
savings are about 0.1 kWh/scf
(4 kWh/Nm3) of oxygen injected).

EAF Bottom Stirring

For conventional ac furnaces
there is little natural electrically
induced turbulencewithin the bath
compared to dc furnaceswhich
have more convection stirring.If
there is little bath movement, large
pieces of scrap can take a
long time
to melt and may
require oxygen
lancing. The conceptof stirring the
bath isnot a new one and records
indicate that electromagnetic coils
were used for stirring trialsas early
as 1933. Today most EAF stirring
operations use inert gas as the stirring medium. The gas is introduced
through the bottom
of the furnace
using porousplugs. In a conventional ac furnace, three plugsare
used with a plug located midway
between each of thethFee electrodes. Primarily argon or nitrogen
gases are used; however,some
trials havebeen conducted with

Foamy Slag Practice

At thestar! of meltdown the
radiation from thearc t o the sidewalls is negligiblebecause the electrodes are surrounded by the scrap.
As melting proceeds, the efficiency
of heattransfer t o the scrap and
TwhCornrnentarv

Figure 5. Lance Manipulator.

3

transformer secondary voltageis

existing furnace electrics. A good
increased (sometimesto as high as
foamy slag practice canallow volt800 to 1100 volts) allowing operation
age increasesof upto 100% without
at higherarc voltages andlower
adversely affecting flare to the furelectrode currents. Some of the
nace sidewalls. Energy losses can
benefits attributedto ac operation
be minimized whenreactance is
with supplemental reactanceare:
associated with the primary circuit.
Supplementary reactors are
More stable arcthan for
Scrap
Preheating
being used to increase the operatstandard operations.
ing voltages on the EAF secondary
Electrode consumption
Of the total energy consumedcircuitbyconnecting
a reactor in
reduced by 10%.
directly inEAF steelmaking,
Secondary voltage
about 20% normally leaves
increased by 60 to 80%.
the furnace in the waste
gases, see Figure 3. The loss
can exceed 130 kWhhon of
DC Furnaces
steel produced. A significant
portion of thisenergy can be
In recent years a number
Utility System:
recaptured by using theoffof dc furnaces have been
- Generation
- Distribution
gas to preheat the scrap. Two
installed. Essentially, the
methods for preheating
equipment needed fordc
scrap, the CONSTEEL@
melting has the same configuSupply Metering
process andthe Fuchs shaft
ration as that of a conventionfurnace have beeninstalled
Substation:
al ac furnace shown inFigure
- Transformer
on several new installations
7. The exceptions are the
- P.F. Correctidn
in recent yeap. TheCONaddition of a bottom electrode
Surge Protection
STEEL@process utilizes a
E
- Supplemental Reactors
(anode), a dc reactor, and a
conveyor to continuously
E
thyristor rectifier all of which
feed scrap into theEAF. Hot
add to the cost of thedc furH.V. Distribution
furnace gases leaving the
(Cables)
nace. These furnaces useonly
EAF travel countercurrentto
one graphite electrode with
Furnace Metering
the scrap on the way
to the
the returnelectrode installed
baghouse thereby preheating
in the bottom the
of furnace
the scrap. The Fuchs furnace
and operate with a hot heel
Furnace Transformer
has a shaft situated on top of
practice in order to ensure an
the EAF which holds ascrap
electrical path to the return
charge that is preheated by
electrode. Figure 8 shows sev_IMetering for Arc
the off-gases rising up
Regulation
eral
types of returnelectrodes.
through theshaft. Energy
These
include conductive
Secondary Conductors
usage has been reducedby
refractories
with a copper
15 to 20% over conventional
external
base
plateand the
EAF operations usingthese
multipin typemade upof contechnologies.
ductive rodspassing through
the hearth and connected to
High Voltage AC
a bottom steel plate. A third
Operations
type consists of oneto four
large diametersteel rods fitX,= Inductive Reactance
R= Resistance
Some EAF steelmakers
ted in the furnace bottom, the
X,= Capacitive Reactance Zo= Arc Impedance
have retrofitted theirshops
steel rods being water cooled
and installed new power
where they emerge
from the
supplies to obtain higher
furnace. During startupfrom
operating voltages. An ac
cold conditions, amixture
furnace electrical circuit is
Figure 6. Simplified Schematic of the acEAFArcCircuit.
of scrap and slag is used to
shown inFigure 6. Energy
provide an initial electrical
series
with
the
primary
windings
of
losses in thesecondary circuit are
path. Oncethis is meltedin, the
the
EAF
transformer.
This
allows
dependent on thesecondary circuit
furnace can be chargedwith scrap.
operation at a powerfactor of
reactance and to a greater extent
Advantages claimed for dc furnaces
approximately
0.707
which
is
the
on thesecondary circuit current. If
over ac furnaces include:
theoretical
optimum
for
maximum
power can besupplied at a higher
circuit power. This ismade possible
50% reduction in elecvoltage, the currentwill be lower
because a large storage deviceis
trode consumption.
for thesame power inputrate.
placed in thecircuit, which in effect
Operating with a lowersecondary
5 to 10% reduction in
acts as an electrical flywheel during
circuit currentwill also give lower
power consumption.
operation. The insertion of the
electrode consumption. Thus, it is
Reduced
refractory
series reactordrops thesecondary
advantageous to operate at as high
consumption.
voltage to limitthe amount of
a secondary voltage as is practical.
Uniform melting.
power transferred to the arc. In order
Of course,this is limited byarc flare
50%
reduction in flicker.
to
compensate
for
this,
the
furnace
to the furnace sidewall and the
natural gas and carbon dioxide.
Advantages for bottomstirring
include yield increases of0.5 to 1%,
average tap-to-taptime savings
of about 5 minutes, energy savings
of about 10 to 20 kWhhon, and
reduced electrodeconsumption.

Techcommentary

Voltage
Hiah
rC I

very little loaddisturbance, and the

steelmaker can have considerable
flexibility in configuring his internal
plant powersystem. Most utilities
require power factorcorrection.
Shops with large EAFs would more
than likely use static capacitors;
synchronous condensers of sufficient capacity would be prohibitively expensive for amultifurnace
shop. Before such systems are
installed, transient analysis is
required to determine:

1) Capacitor bankconfiguration.
2) Need for harmonic tuning of
sections.
3) Switching procedure (Thisis
important to avoid a power
factor penalt and does not
eliminate flicer).

AC Furnace

High Voltage AC Line

As mentioned earlier, use of dc

EAFs and improved operating
practices such as scrap preheating,
foamy slags, and use of hotheels
all workto reduce flicker. If additional regulation is needed, installation ofa static var control(SVC)
may be required. Many EAF shops
have installed SVC systems not
only to minimize
flicker problems
but also to increase productivity.

DC Furnace
~~

Ladle Refining Furnace

Figure 7. Layouts for ac and dc Furnaces.

icI

Refractories

Metallic
Conductor

Graphite

Electrode

SinMulti-Pin
Conductive

le Piece
detallic
conductor

Figure 8. Bottom Electrode Designsfor dc Furnaces.

Many ways exist
to reduce the
effects of arc disturbances. These
are determined by the utility
system
to which the furnace furnaces
or
are
to be connected,and theyare influThe melting process involves
enced mainly by thesize and stabilithe use of large quantitiesof energy
ty of the power
grid. Some sizable
in a shorttime (1-2 hr) andin some
shops requireno particular flicker
instances the process has caused
control equipment. It is quitepossidisturbances (flicker & harmonics)
in power grids but this problem is ble that, if a furnace shop is fed
from a 220 kV or higher system with
being minimized with the installaa short-circuitcapacity of 6500 MVA
tion of modernfurnaces and
or more, the utility will experience
improved operating practices.

Reducing Electrical
Disturbances

TechCommentan.

During the past

decade, the
EAF has evolved into a fast and
low-cost melter ofscrap with the
major objective being higherproductivity in order to reduce fixed
costs. In addition, refining operations to improve product quality
are (for the most part) carried out
in a ladle refining furnace(LRF).
This allows the
EAF to concentrate
on melting the
scrap and removing
impurities via oxidation reactions.
Temperature and chemistry adjustments are carried out more
optimally in the LRF. For more
information on the operation
and role of the
LRF see CMP
TechCommenrary CMP-071.

EAF Dust
The dust exiting the furnace
with theoff-gases has been classified as a hazardous waste (KO61
by the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) becauseit can contain lead, cadmium, chromium,
and nickel. As a result, the dust
must be treated prior todisposal
in order to meet EPA requirements.
There arevarious methodsfor
treating thedust-for more information onthese processes refer
to CMP Report93-1.3
5

Design Criteria For the ModemUHP Electric

Arc Fumece W t h Auxiliaries, Be man K.,
Gottardi R., 3rd European Electric tee1
Congress, 1989.
Direct Current Electric Arc Furnaces,
CMP
TechCommentary CMP-063, January 1991.
Electric Arc Furnace Dust-1993Overview,
CMP Report 93-1, July 1993.
Electric Arc Furnace Efficiency,
CMP Report
92-10, December 1992.
ElectricArc Furnace Technology, Recent
Developments and Future Trends,Teoh L.L.,
lronmaking and Steelmaking, Vol. 16,1989.
Giving EAFs the Shaft to Recoup Energy,
33 Metal Producing, November 1990.
Ladle Refining Furnaces, CMP
TechCommentary CMP-071, August 1991.
New Developments in ElectricArc Furnace

New Tools for Improved Operation of High

Efficiency ElectricArc Furnaces,Aderup M.,
Ljunggren R., Frisk L., Anderson F?Gustafsson
,
A., Samuelsson F?,1992 Electric Furnace
Proceedings.
Optimal Distribution of Oxygen in High
Efficiency ArcFurnaces, Gripenberg H.,
Brunner M., Iron andSteel Engineer, July 1990.
Oxy-Fuel Burner Technologyfor Electric Arc
Furnaces,Wells M.B., Vonesh F.A., Iron &
Steelmaker, November, 1986.
Reflections on the Possibilities and
Limitations of Cost Saving in Steel Production
in Electric ArcFurnaces, Klein K., Paul G.,
Metallurgical Plant and Technology,Vol.1,
1989.
Review of New lronmaking Technologiesand
Potential for PowerGeneration, CMP Report
95-1, February 1995.

The Electric Power Research Institute

(EPRI) conducts a technical research
and development programfor the
U.S. electric utility industry. EPRl
promotes the development ofnew
and improved technologies to help
the utility industry meet present and
future electric energy needs in environmentally and economically
acceptable ways. EPRl conducts
research on allaspects of electric
power production anduse, including
fuels, generation, delivery energy
management and consewation,
environmental effects, and energy
analysis.

LEGAL NOTICE
This TechCommentarywas prepared
and sponsored by The EPRl Center
for Materials Production (CMP).
Neither members ofCMP nor any
person acting on their behalf
(a) makes any warranty, expressed or
implied, with respect to the use of
any information, apparatus, method,
or process disclosed in this
TechCommentaryor that such use
may notinfringe privately owned
rights; or (b)assumes any liabilities
with respect to theuse.of, or fordamages resulting from theuse of, any
information, apparatus, method, or
process disclosed in this
TechCommentary.

The EPRl Center for Materials

Production (CMP) is an R&D application
center funded by The Electric Power
Research Institute andoperated
by Carnegie Mellon Research Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University. CMP is a
service of the Industrial and Agricultural Technologies and Services
Business Unit of the Customer Systems
Group of EPRI. The mission of the
Center is to discover, develop, and deliv
er high value technological advances
through networking and partnership
with theelectricity industry.

EPRl
Preston Roberts, Manager,
Materials Production and Fabrication
CMP
Joseph E. Goodwill, Director
I

This TechCommentarywas prepared by

Dr. Jeremy Jones, Consultant. It supercedes
a 1987 TechCommentarywith a similar title.
Technical review was provided by Robert J.
Schmitt, Associate Director at CMP, and
Joseph E. Goodwill, Director of CMP. Edited
by JohnKollar, CMP

The EPRl
Center for
Materials
Production
Carnegie Mellon Research Institute
P.O.Box 2950
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15230-2950
4 412-268-3243FAX:412-268-6852

For additional copies of this Techcommentary

call ECAC 4 1-800-4320-AMP
Key Words: ElectricArc Furnace, Electrical
Operations
Applicable SIC Codes 3312,3325

01997 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc.

All rights resewed. Printed 2/97

50%
TOTAL R E C O M R D FIBER
20!4 POST-CONSUMER FIBER

TechCornmentary~TC-1077146